Let's Brew Wednesday - 1945 Tetley's Bitter

Apologies for the gap between Let's Brew posts. A lot has been going on.

Here we have the 1945 Bitter to pair with the 1945 Mild. Brew both and you could serve 1945 Tetley's Mixed. I bet people did genuinely do that in pubs. I can remember mixed being fairly popular in Leeds in the 1970's.

A couple of things immediately strike me about this beer. First is the gravity. 1042º is very respectable for an Ordinary Bitter of the period. I haven't a huge number of Bitters from this date, just 15. They have an average OG of 1037.7. And at least one - Barclay Perkins PA - was a Best Bitter. That was just 1038º.  The strongest, Courage PA, was 1043.7º.

That tells me something. Tetley must have sold a lot more Mild than Bitter. How do I know that? Because there was a cap on the average OG of all beer produced in a brewery. And that average was well below 1042º. I don't know the figure it was set at in 1945, but as the average OG of all beer brewed that year was 1034.54º*, it must have been around 1035º.

The second point is the degree of attenuation, which is very high. Which means it has a very high ABV of 5.25%. How typical was that? Post-war, every example I have was over 80%. Take a look:

Tetley's Bitter 1928 - 1989
Year	Beer	Price	size	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1928	Bitter Ale	9d	pint	bottled	1014.4	1049.6		4.56	70.97%
1940	Pale Ale	9d	pint	draught		1045.6
1952	Pale Ale	16d	pint	draught		1036.3	20
1953	Pale Ale	16d	pint	draught		1037.3	20
1955	Bitter	12.5d	half	bottled	1004	1037.1	23	4.32	89.22%
1959	Bitter Ale	10.5d	half	bottled	1006.1	1039	23	4.11	84.36%
1960	Bitter	16d	pint	draught	1003.7	1037.9	20	4.28	90.24%
1964	Bitter Ale	12.5d	half	bottled	1005.6	1040	25	4.30	86.00%
1977	Bitter		pint	draught		1035.5
1979	Bitter		pint	draught		1035.5
1981	Bitter		pint	draught		1035.5
1982	Bitter		pint	draught		1035.5
1986	Bitter		pint	draught		1035.5
1989	Bitter		pint	draught		1035
Sources:
Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number B/THB/C/252
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

You can see that the OG fell below 1040º in the 1950's, rose a little in the 1960's, then settled in the mid 1030's.

How did Tetley's compare with other Bitters? Why don't we take a look:

Bitter in 1945
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint (pence)	package	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1945	Barclay Perkins	PA	14	draught	1009.3	1038	32.5	3.72	75.53%
1945	Barclay Perkins	XLK		draught	1012.25	1035.4	29	2.99	65.40%
1945	Charrington	P.A.	14	draught	1009.4	1037	18.5	3.58	74.59%
1945	Courage	PA	16	draught	1010.4	1043.7	22	4.33	76.20%
1945	Lees	B				1038.0
1945	Lees	B				1038.0
1945	Mann	PA	16	draught	1010.1	1042.5	27	4.21	76.24%
1945	Meux	PA	14	draught	1007.4	1032.1	21	3.20	76.95%
1945	Meux	PA	14	draught	1006.4	1032.8	21	3.43	80.49%
1945	Taylor Walker	PA	14	draught	1011.2	1037	29	3.34	69.73%
1945	Truman	PA	15	draught	1005.9	1041.6	24	4.65	85.82%
1945	Watney	PA	14	draught	1006.6	1038.3	27	4.12	82.77%
1945	Whitbread	PA	14	draught	1009.2	1032.8	27.5	3.06	71.95%
1945	Whitbread	PA			1010.0	1039.4	26	3.89	74.62%
1945	Whitbread	PA			1012.5	1039.5	26	3.57	68.35%
	Average		14.5		1009.28	1037.74	24.5	3.70	75.28%
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/01/626.
Lees brewing recods
Whitbread brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/01/112.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

Tetley's Bitter had a higher OG, greater degree of attenuation and a paler colour than the average. Only one of the other Bitters comes even close in terms of attenuation - Truman PA. Tetley's look pretty atypical, though it should be borne in mind that all the others, with the exception of Lees, were London beers.

Almost forgot the flaked barley. That was a hangover from the war, when the government forced brewers to use it to save the energy used in malting.








I'm all out of crap to tell you, so it's over to Kristen . . . . . . . .

Kristen’s Version:

Notes: Yeah…Tetley’s mild. One of my very favorite ‘drink-theer-piss-outta-eers’. You want to know what invert No2 tastes like, make this. You want to test your metal as a brewer, make this. You want to make a beer that can be done in two weeks, make this. You want me to stop writing, ma…err…yeah…

Malt: The original had a blend of 3 different English pale malts of 29%, 29% and 8%. Choose a blend or just do one. Whatever you fancy. A decent 14% of the doughy flaked barley and then lots of Invert and a touch of caramel which we’ve discussed previously….and can be left out all together.

Invert No2. http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-invert
Caramel. http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-caramel

Hops: Not hugely hoppy but not nothing either. A decent hop presence so choose whatever you like. Really this time. Go bonkers. Maybe some nice Hallertauer Blanc? Me, I’m using some Brewers Gold, b/c that’s how I feel today, in a golden mood. Goldings of any sort will work just peachy.
Yeast: (Same as before) Any really gang. This bastard is dry as a bone so pick your favorite one that you know how to use. Over pitch. Over oxygenate. Hope and pry she dries out for you.

Sundries: Nothing specific. Make it dry. Use the right sugar. Don’t forget to forget the bleedin caramel.
 
Cask: Standard procedure:

1) let the beer ferment until finished and then give it another day or so. For me right around 5-7 days.
2) Rack the beer to your vessel of choice (firkin, polypin, cornie, whatever).
3) Add primings at ~3.5g/L
4) Add prepared isinglass at 1ml/L
5) ONLY add dry hops at 0.25g/l – 1g/L.
6) Bung it up and roll it around to mix. Condition at 55F or so for 4-5 days and its ready to go. Spile/vent. Tap. Settle. Serve at 55F.




* Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50.